Mandy Oser’s Hell’s Kitchen hangout remains a fine spot for a pre-theater glass of Spanish orange wine, French sparkling wine, and scores of other selections across the list. Also stick around for chorizo croquettes, smoked bluefish dip, shishito peppers, or spiced lamb skewers. Accepts reservations.

Here find some of the city's best Cuban sandwiches, vaca frita (skirt steak fried to the texture of soft jerky), and mojitos. Warning: The mojitos are strong, which is especially dangerous on Tuesdays when they're just $6 apiece. Swing by after a show for live Cuban music every night. Reservations available.

This is now the go-to affordable Japanese late-night dining spot of choice in the Theater District. The menu is long, like at any izakaya, but highlights include the namesake rice bowls — try the one with soft eel — chicken katsu curry with a rich, beefy sauce, and sizzling crab omelets drenched in heady seafood jus. Note that tipping is included in menu prices. Reservations available.

This is where you go for very good skewers of charcoal-grilled chicken for a set price of $100. Eater NY awarded three stars in a review, praising the foot-to-beak approach to poultry cooking. Expect nuggets of crunchy knee bone (yes, eat it), medium-rare breast meat (it's totally safe, probably), and “main arteries” (edible rubber bands). If none of this sounds appealing, let the chef know and the chicken experience will be more mainstream. Reservations available. There’s also a $180 option at the select counter, and a la carte offerings outside.

Totto Ramen, quite simply, is one of the city’s best joints for paitan ramen, more or less the chicken broth analogue to fatty, creamy, porky tonkotsu. Vegetarian ramen also available. No reservations.

Located on the border of Hell’s Kitchen and the Theater District, Vida Verde is a staple late night Mexican spot, with a capable kitchen that slings solid nachos and birria tacos. Expect excellent margaritas and classic cocktails. Must be 21 to enter; reservations available.

This is where you go for nourishing, well-executed, affordable Colombian fare. Highlights include a classic South American breakfast of beans and rice with eggs, spicy chicken arepas, chicken soup studded with cilantro and rice, frozen margaritas, stellar empanadas (try the ones filled with shellfish or beef), and an excellent meat platter known as bandeja paisa. That platter comes with just about everything: skirt steak, chorizo, chicharron, rice, beans, maduros, avocado, fried egg, and an arepa. Open 24 hours. No reservations.

David Bank, one of the forces behind the late, lamented Taladwat, still runs this excellent Hell’s Kitchen spot, which remains one of the top places for traditional Thai fare on Ninth Avenue. The pan-regional menu includes flaky root vegetable curry puffs; tart green papaya salad; Krabi seafood noodles with shrimp, squid, fermented tofu, and pork broth; and excellent dry Ratchaburi-style noodles with roasted pork and generous chunks of lump crab meat. No reservations.

This Delhi import offers elegant set menus at $80 and $95 per person. The two crucial orders: The rich soy keema with lime leaf butter pao on the side (essentially a sloppy joe), and the makhan malai dessert, a cloud-like puff of milk foam laced with saffron and rose petals. Reservations available.

Hooni Kim’s charming little restaurant remains a great Korean option for pre-theater dining. Expect spicy rice cakes with beef brisket, soy honey chicken wings with pickled daikon, and bulgogi beef sliders with spicy pickled cucumber. Reservations available.

The Prohibition-era bar and steakhouse continues to serve some serious cuts of meat and solid classic cocktails. Be sure to start off with the bacon-studded clams casino, then pair a funky dry-aged ribeye with fries and a blue cheese-drenched wedge salad. Those who seek the prime rib roast should call ahead as it’s not offered every night; it can sell out too. Accepts reservations.

The compelling reason to visit Don Antonio by Starita is to sample classically excellent Neapolitan pies in a corner of the city that’s more famous for its slice joints. Go for the classic wood-fired margherita, or a series of “montanara” pizzas that have been lightly fried. No reservations.

Meske offers breathtakingly flavorful and affordable Ethiopian fare and just a short walk from the Richard Rogers theater, home to the not-quite-affordable “Hamilton.” Keep it simple: Order an Ethiopian lager and the combination platter, a heady pile of berbere spiced lentils, collards, and meats on injera, the traditionally sour and spongy bread. No reservations.

Chef Andrew Whitney’s counter spot at Gotham West Market is your go-to Italian option for the Theater District, even if it’s a bit of a walk from some of the shows. Notable dishes include burrata with pine nuts and basil pesto, charred octopus with chorizo, and great pastas like tajarin carbonara and bucatini arrabbiata. Accepts reservations.

This South Korean chain is expanding its presence throughout the city, and that’s not necessarily a bad thing, because it serves some very good fried chicken. To be fair: sometimes the wings can turn out a bit bland, in which case you’ll need to add a touch of salt or soy. Every night, however, patrons can expect spicy drumsticks with such an impressively crunchy crust they don’t even lose their textural snap during delivery. Be sure to try the yellow “snowing” fries, which manage to turn fried potatoes into something that tastes like Cheetos. Reservations available.

Eric Ripert’s three-Michelin-starred temple to French seafood remains one of the best places to dine in all of New York, which makes Le Bernardin a tough reservation. But the bar and lounge, where the full menu is served, is open to walk-ins and remains a great pre-theater option. This one is a splurge; the four-course menu is $185; the chef’s tasting is $280; the tasting of vegetables is $220. A smaller a la carte menu is also available in the bar area. Reservations available.

This isn't one of those hip natural wine bars found in Paris or downtown Manhattan; this is a classic place to enjoy classic wines in expensive Zalto stems, a place where the entry-level Champagne runs $28. Also go for the charcuterie, the jambon beurre, or the heady merguez sausage in pita. Reservations available.

The owners behind the acclaimed Chinese-Cajun shellfish boil spot shuttered their original East Village location during the pandemic, but the Hell’s Kitchen sequel remains open. Expect pretty much everything that made the original great: meat skewers (lamb, kidneys, tendon, sausages), traditional appetizers like spicy mung bean noodles, and of course, piles of shellfish for face melting seafood boils — laced with chiles, rice cakes, and crispy youtiao. Options for the boils include crawfish, snow crab, whole lobster, whole Dungeness crab, and king crab legs. Reservations available.

This Peruvian chain serves some of the city’s finest and most affordable rotisserie chickens. Expect a tender, flavorful bird with a fantastic poultry punch. Pair the chicken ($6-$23) with an order of tostones, maduros, or salchipapas (fries and hot dogs). No reservations.

E.A.K. Izakaya, along with Totto (also listed in this guide), is your go-to for good Japanese noodles in the Theater District. The Japanese chain serves excellent iekei ramen, a blend of fatty pork-based tonkotsu and soy-based shoyu, with wonderfully firm noodles. Accepts reservations.

It would be hard to envision a Theater District guide without this mainstay that’s been feeding both Broadway-goers, stars, and stagehands for decades. Grab a seat at the bar, order a strong Manhattan or martini, get a respectable steak frites, and toast to the end of the night at in one of the greatest cities in the world — you may even see some Broadway stars.

This is the definitive answer to “Where can I listen to live old time-y music in Times Square without a cover charge?” The dimly lit space in the Hotel Edison is an oasis of (crowded) civility on 47th Street, and while the kitchen offers a few small bites — popcorn and warm pretzels — the drinks are the draw, from a solid classic daiquiri, to a rum old-fashioned, to a non-frozen riff on the piña colada.

Hong Kong chain Tim Ho Wan — which famously attracted hour-plus waits when it debuted in the East Village — now boasts a Hell’s Kitchen location, where the queue is more reasonable. The smart play is an order of barbecue pork buns, crispy on the outside, doughy within, with an ample supply of sugary swine. A proper meal for two can dip under $40. You can join the wait list for seating via Yelp.

Most of New York’s Uzbek restaurants are located throughout Rego Park, Coney Island, Sheepshead Bay, and Kensington. Taam Tov, however, is the rare Manhattan option for excellent Central Asian fare. Located on the second floor of a Diamond District building, the room fills up quickly with patrons coming for char-grilled kebabs and plov, the famously heady rice pilaf stuffed with lamb and carrots. No reservations.

This fast-casual taqueria is ideal for when the curtain call is in 20 minutes or less. If that sounds like too much of a concessionary recommendation, consider that Los Tacos is one of the city's most heralded taco stands. The right move is the al pastor, pork spinning on a spit, crisped on the griddle, stuffed into a corn tortilla, and garnished with pineapple, and finished with guacamole. No beer or booze here: instead, there’s horchata, grape soda, and Fanta. No reservations.

Amelie Kang’s midtown restaurant remains a fantastic spot to enjoy the wonders of Sichuan dry pots. Patrons build their own bowls filled with fiery blends of any number of ingredients, including (but not limited to) beef tenderloin, tripe, tendon, tongue, squid, crab stick, tofu skin, rice cake, enoki mushrooms, and spam. Also consider the wonderfully slippery liangfen mung bean noodles to start off with. Accepts reservations.

This pan-Central Asian spot might just be one of the best places to eat grilled meat in all of Midtown West. Owner Farida Gabbassova-Ricciardelli and chef Umitjon Kamolov serve serious charcoal-grilled shashlik; the chicken thigh skewers balance crisp skin with fatty juiciness and tender flesh. Be sure to try the Uzbek national dish that is plov, rice pilaf made sweet from aromatic carrots and funky with tender chunks of heady lamb. Note: For kosher Uzbek fare, check out the excellent Taam Tov in the Diamond District, also listed in this guide. Accepts reservations.

Perhaps no other chain is as devoted to the edible luxury that is bonito flakes — dried, fermented, and smoked fish that's mechanically shaved in-house like a truffle. Order it over tofu, over saba (mackerel), or as a side for soba dipping sauce. No reservations.